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Vote Bush ? Vote Kerry ?
by AmigaPhil
Monday, Oct. 18, 2004 at 5:59 PM
AmigaPhil@ping.be
To vote or not to vote ? Vote Bush or vote Kerry ?
amigaphil.planetinternet.be/cgi-bin/getfile.cgi?file=USelection2004
Vote from the rooftops
by Vote from the rooftops
Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2004 at 2:52 PM
Make an informed decision, use a scope.
Don't Vote Kerry --
by Concerned Voter
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 at 8:37 AM
Most of us haven't thought about this -- no matter how much we like or dislike John Kerry. Even an estimate of this cost is staggering.
If elected, you and I (or those of us who actually pay taxes) will pay upkeep and secret service protection for five Kerry mansions here in the United States plus those he and his wife own abroad. It is good to be John F. Kerry...the F stands for Forbes in case you ever wondered. He is one of the richest senators in government and he married even richer. Their properties certainly reflect their opulent lifestyle. When someone is elected president, the Secret Service has to protect this person and family as well as their property - for as long as the president and his spouse lives!
Beacon Hill, Boston $6.9 million
As mentioned, the Kerry's have five US properties and several foreign properties. The cost to run one of these homes for a year is more than upper middle income Americans could afford, even if the rent was free, and all you had to pay was the water, gas &electric bills (we won't mention ground keepers, maintenance, pool, cooks and house keepers).
Fox Chapel, PA $3.7 million (this is their "shanty")
If Kerry becomes president each property requires staffed secret service security 24 hours a day. Security improvements to each home will come at tax payer expense. Even if the Kerry's never use all the properties - they will be retrofitted -- just in case they drop by for a weekend. Facilities for the secret service agents must also be provided on each property. Who do you think will pay for this? We pay! This takes all the expense off Kerry and puts it on us. Bill Clinton is paying for his New York manor house by charging the government monthly rent for the required secret service facility. The monthly rent is nearly three times more than his mortgage payment. So we the tax payers are buying his house and he pockets the extra money from the rent on the secret service facility. Then he gets to write off the interest on his mortgage. Well, he was broke from defending his immoral skullduggery and his wife's little scandals, so maybe we should feel sorry for poor old Slick Willie.
Georgetown, Washington D.C. $4.7 million
Ketchum, Idaho $4.92 million
What does it cost to staff one property in terms of secret service agents? Let's just talk about his American properties. Each property would require 5 agents per 6 hour shift 4 times a day 365 days a year for the rest of Kerry's life and however long his widow might live. In addition, we pay to house and feed these agents at each property for the duration. Do the math. Five properties requiring five agents per shift, times four shifts. That is 20 agents per day per property, 365 days per year. Lets say each agent receives a salary of about $60K (this doesn't include insurance, retirement, etc.; add 30% of salary for that). There will also be vehicles, repairs, gas, and other miscellaneous costs. Straight salary and benefits for 100 agents for one year would cost $7,800,000. We can only guess at the cost of retrofitting each property, building the facility necessary to house the agents and the monthly rent for each facility.
Nantucket, MA $9.18 million
On the other hand, George Bush owns one house - the one at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Again, who pays? You and I pay. I don't mind one property; heck I wouldn't even complain about two - but five in the U.S. and those abroad? Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Kerry should offer to foot the bill for
all but two of these properties if they want me to consider his candidacy. Does it make sense to spend this kind of money on his excessive life style when he and Mrs. Heinz-Kerry can better afford it??
Paying for the Kerry mansions is only a small part of my concern about this man sitting in the White House. I'd rather see the money we'd spend protecting his fancy properties go toward health care, our military and homeland security. Which America does he live in?? Not the same one I live in - that's for sure!
John Kerry has been a freeloader all of his adult life, and now he expects you and I to pay for his personal upkeep as he ascends to the place he beleives has been his birthright -- telling the rest of us what is best for us.
John Kerry and his elite friends are completely out of touch with the rest of us. His wife speaks about how other people are inferior since they "have never had real jobs", yet what "real job has she ever had and what real job has John Kerry ever had. John Kerry can't even show up for work for the job he has now. And Teresa, honey, I got news for you, marrying wealthy Senators is NOT a job (but you do seem to have amde a career out of it).
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by .
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 at 9:10 AM
The whole Secret Service will cover Kerry's mansion is simply a myth stirred up by the right. It's completely false.
Cause, you know, Bush is so fiscally responsible and all.
Why Nader? Badnarik
by Tom S
Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004 at 10:53 AM
Why would you vote for Nader? Just because he's the only third party candidate that most people have heard of? Vote for real change, vote for smaller government and vote for restoring the peoples' rights and liberties. Vote for the Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik for president.
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